Chocolate Covered Strawberries
by KR Blake
Summary: Or, the one where Laura is forced to go to an Austin & Ally Christmas party she really doesn't want to go to. Raura. For Maae.


**For Maae, **

**Merry Christmas, **

**Sincerely, one of your bitches. **

* * *

She'd never been one for big Christmas parties like this. Sure, she was always great at making small talk, and everyone seemed to love talking to her, but she never liked these parties much. She had always just gritted her teeth and barrelled her way through the night sticking to the sides of the rooms and sometimes taking unnecessarily long walks outside when needed.

So when she was invited to the cast and crew Christmas party, Laura Marano was a little less than enthused, shall we say. She smiled, and accepted Kevin's offer politely nonetheless, because, well, it would be rude to turn down your boss's offer simply because you didn't want to go.

She walked in nervously to the party, held in a large banquet hall, tugging at the hem of her cocktail dress nervously. She'd much rather be in a nice shirt and a pair of jeans, but her sister had been in one of "_those_" moods again. The mood that makes her think Laura was just a Barbie doll that she could dress up as she pleased.

Vanessa had dressed her little sister in a nice ruffled blue blouse and high-waist flowery skirt that was somewhat tight around the legs, though not so much as to tie her legs together. She had also forced her hair up in a curly ponytail, though Laura would have much preferred to have her hair down. It's much easier to hide during a party when your hair is covering your face.

She looked around nervously, searching for the few people at this party she was actually comfortable around. Granted, she was generally comfortable around everyone here, but she needed those she was most comfortable with; her co-stars.

She could see the three of them scattered around the large room; Raini sat at one of the tables, talking excitedly with her little brother Rico, waving her hands a lot for emphasis. The sight if the two made Laura wish Vanessa had come with her, but tonight was also the night of the _Switched at Birth_ Christmas party. Calum stood not too far away from Raini's table, talking with Samantha, one of the show's writers. They seemed to be deep in conversation; by the way Calum trained his eyes on Samantha so intently. Ross stood near the stage, talking with one of the guitarists of the live band performing.

The band was a nice classical rock group, obviously very different from R5, but Laura had no doubt the two musicians were discussing music. That thought made her smile just a bit. Ross always managed to find someone to discuss music with him.

Laura made her way into the banquet hall, her heels clicking barely audibly against the hardwood flooring as she walked. As she made a beeline for one of the corners of the room, she swiped a few pieces of food from the platters of passing servers to keep her occupied. She barely registered what she was grabbing; she just snatched and kept walking.

By the time she made it to the safe haven of the corner by the stage, she had accumulated a small plate full of assorted desserts, including little pieces of cheesecake, Christmas cookies, and the only reprieve to this evening, chocolate covered strawberries. They were her favourite, by far.

She decided to keep those for last and began picking on her small mountain of desserts, looking around the room uncertainly. She knew she'd have to socialize sooner or later. She was just hoping it would be later rather than sooner.

"Laura! Hey!" Heath's excited voice snapped her up to attention. She focused on him walking towards her safe corner, waving her over to him. Reluctantly, she snapped up to attention and strode over confidently to him.

"Hey, Heath." She said nicely, plastering a fake smile on her face, which he, of course, bought. She _was_ an actress, after all. "Awesome party." She looked around, impressed.

"Aw, thanks, but it was mostly Garron who did the planning." Heath said bashfully. "I just wrote out the cheques."

Laura nodded, smiling. She knew without a doubt that it was true—Garron Ma was much more a parent to the entire _Austin & Ally_ team than he was a PA. "Well, he did an awesome job. Where is he, anyways?"

"Ahh," Heath looked around the room until he finally found Garron by the other corner of the stage, trying to impress a girl by demonstrating his _Gangnam Style_ dancing skills. She was laughing along, so Laura guessed his attempts were working. At least, for now, they were.

"Garron…" Heath shook his head good-naturedly. "So, I have a few people who want to meet you." Heath turned to a group of small children—kids of the crew, Laura guessed. "They're _big_ fans of the show."

"Then let's go!" she said jauntily, feigning enthusiasm.

Ω

And so, for the next hour, she posed for silly pictures, smiled for nice ones, and chatted lightly with almost every person in the room. And it was a _big_ room. Don't get her wrong; she still loves doing that—she _adores_ it—but it was tiresome work. By nine, she felt like she was ready to drop.

And she was just going to tell Heath this, when a calloused hand rested on her lower back. She looked up, startled, to see Ross standing beside her, smiling. "Hi," he said to the group of adults she had been talking to. "Do you mind if I steal Laura for a second?"

"Oh, not at all!" One of the women said sweetly, though neither of the seventeen year olds noticed the mischievous glint in the corner of her eye—in the corner of all the adults' eyes.

Ross thanked them, guiding Laura away from the group and towards the door leading out to a small balcony overlooking the garden below their second storey ballroom.

The sun had set hours ago, and the moon rose up high in the sky, glowing brightly on the garden. A few people milled around the garden below them, but on the balcony, it was just Ross and Laura.

She ran a hand through her hair, a little razzed, and looked at Ross. "So what'd you want to talk to me about?"

"Nothing." He says, leaning back against the outside wall of the building, crossing his arms over his dress shirt. "You just looked like you needed saving in there."

A grateful smile broke out on her face and she leaned her elbows on the edge of the railing, looking out into the garden. "I don't like parties." She said in reasoning.

"Hey, I don't blame you." He said, holding up his hands in surrender. "Parties like these suck. But you just have to power through them."

"I know, I know." She said dismissively, looking down at the plate in her hands. There was still one chocolate covered strawberry left. Its dark chocolate coating was beginning to melt, but it was still good. She popped it happily into her mouth and chewed. "You sound like my mom." She said through a full mouth; something she knew her mother would have scolded her for, ironically enough.

He chuckled, stepping away from the wall to lean on the balcony banister beside her. "Does your mother also tell you that you look beautiful in that dress?"

She blushed, looking down at her shoes. "No," she mumbled in a small voice.

"Well, you do." He said. "Extremely beautiful." He gave her hand a slight squeeze before back at the party. "Ah, I should probably go back to the party. Heath still has to show me off to everyone."

Laura could hear the faint drips of sarcasm in his voice as he said that. Heath was the kind of boss to show off his actors and introduce them to anyone and everyone. He liked to prove that he had the best the business could offer for his parts. Now, that's not to say that Heath showed them off like show dogs, but Ross was never one to be shown off by anyone. He showed himself off. Everyone knew that.

He moved to leave her alone on the balcony, before he stopped and frowned at her. "You have chocolate on your face."

She blushed even more profusely than when he had complemented her and turned away, covering her mouth. "Oh, shoot!"

He laughed, swatting her hand away from her mouth. "Relax." He said in his usual blasé tone of voice. "It's cute."

That little compliment did nothing to help the blushing, and she thanked the lucky stars it was night out. Faces weren't meant to turn this shade of red.

She looked back to him uncertainly, and his face shifted from that laughing smile to a serious face—at least, a serious face for Ross. It was a normal face for everyone else.

Before she could say anything about his sudden change in mood, he leaned forward and kissed her cheek lightly, right where the chocolate sat on her cheek. And the corner of her lips. He pulled away, licking his lips slightly.

"Delicious." He noted with a smirk, winking. "I'll see you later, Laur."

She watched numbly as him walk into the party calmly, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, her hand reaching up to feel the place he had kissed. Unsurprisingly, the chocolate was gone.

She looked down at the empty plate in her hand. '_Maybe I should get some more of these…_'

* * *

**So how was that, Maae? A good Christmas present? It better be. I worked on Christmas to finish this (Haha, just kidding, you know I would have written on Christmas anyways). **

**-KR Blake Ω **


End file.
